Colonial Council
The Colonial Council was the ruling body for all of human space, following the invention of hyperspace technology by Omata Kane until the destruction of that same technology and the subsequent regression into the pre-space age. After the long dark age, the Colonial Council era was followed by the Earth government era. History The Beginning The Colonial Council was formed in 57 NC - that is, fifty-seven years after the death of Omata Kane. Initially comprising only colonies with the Sol system itself, including Mars and Jupiter's moon Europa, the spread of hyperspace technology and the exploration and settlement of ever more star systems meant that within only a few centuries, Colonial Council space spread across much of the galaxy. The major systems of Colonial Council space were joined by a network of hypergates, forming a main spine, and from there, the minor systems were linked by simple hyperspace jumps. The Golden Age of Mankind In 230 NC, contact was made with the Vell-os for the first time in over two thousand years, leading to them joining the Colonial Council in 242 NC, resulting in a golden age for all of humanity, which lasted for almost three hundred years. The first inklings of the fall of the Council began only one hundred and fifty years later, in 380 NC, when a member of the Council named Kerell Polaris proposed an expedition to explore and settle the space beyond the star Polaris, the only large area of the galaxy not yet settled by human kind. The Colonial Council rejected Polaris' proposal, despite Vell-os support, leading to the resignation of Polaris from the Council in 397 NC in order to organise the expedition using his own funds. With the continued support of the Vell-os, the expedition launched in 430 NC, three years after the death of Kerell Polaris. The Beginning of the End When contact with the expedition, now known as the Polaris, was re-established in 540 NC, the downfall of the Council began in earnest. The Polarans made it clear to the Council that no interference in their affairs would be tolerated. When a diplomatic mission is sent to Polaris space in 552 NC, the Polaris refused the mission entry into their space. Despite this, and on the orders of the leader of the delegation, the diplomatic mission and their armed escort entered Polaris space, whereupon the Polarans destroyed them utterly. The Council called for an immediate military expedition into Polaran space, despite the Vell-os objections that the Polarans were well within their rights; the Vell-os responded by leaving the Colonial Council. When the Council attempted to invade Polaran space in 553 NC, the Vell-os prevented them, leading to a full-scale war between the Council and the Vell-os which lasted for over fifty years. The war ended only when the leader of the Vell-os surrendered in order to prevent further loss of life and property. The Colonial Council promptly responded by enslaving all Vell-os, and razed their worlds (including Vellos, Korell and Llyrithra) into lifeless smoking ruins. The Auroran Succession Due to the economic pressures of the war with the Vell-os, many out-lying systems of Colonial Council space became largely ignored by the Council. In 610 NC, one of these, lead by a man called Vanadian Aurora, declared its independence from the Council. Following this, several other territories, Moash, Vella, Tekel, Dani and Heraan, also declare their independence. In 647 NC, the Colonial Council began a war against the outer territories which had declared their independence. This war continued for the next twenty-three years. The Destruction of the Colonial Council In 670 NC, the Council decided to escalate the war against the outer territories in a very close vote. The councillors who voted against this escalation stormed out of the Council chamber and withdrew their support from the Council's actions. One of these councillors made contact with the Armetis terrorist group, and conveyed classified information on the hypergate network. Using this information, the Armetis group destroyed the gate in the Sol system, unwittingly causing an energy backlash which traveled through hyperspace, destroying almost all hypergates and hyperjump technology - the only group to escape relatively unscathed were the Polarans. In one fell swoop, the Armetis group reduced the far-flung Colonial Council into simply a collection of independent worlds, unable to travel to each other, and able to communicate only by using the Vell-os slaves still present on many worlds. With little contact to other worlds, most of the former systems of the Colonial Council, as well as those of the outlying terrories, regressed into a pre-space age technology level. Only Earth and Aurora retained any kind of technology base. The long night had come. Category:Nova History